Crap! I forgot it’s Tuesday. I am about to run out the door to take the car in for servicing. I’ll be back in a couple of hours (fingers crossed). When I am, I’ll do a post. In the meantime, why don’t you leave suggestions for what you’d like me to cover? For now, I need coffee (I just rolled out of bed) and a shower. Until later!
Oops!
Comments are closed.
Mad Genius Club 
Marketing flops. Not necessarily books, although I know of one doozie of a non-fiction cover-art failure, but general “mismatch of concept and target audience/users” or advertising in the wrong place. I realize this could be tricky from a liability/hurt feelings point, but the occasional horrible warning can be a good reminder. (Like the cover of the second Cat book, which is supposed to be sci-fi and symbolic, and instead signals high fantasy and clashes with the font signals. Here’s the link, for the morbidly curious: https://www.amazon.com/Justice-Juniors-Among-Dragons-Book-ebook/dp/B00CA95AP4/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=A+Cat+Among+Dragons&qid=1626787279&s=books&sr=1-8)
I second this one.
It’s really hard to tell sometimes. Back in the mid-90’s, Bill was the book reviewer for the Rock Hill Herald. We got truckloads of books from publishers, big and small (most of which got donated to the library).
The one I’m remembering was going to be THE major bestseller of the year: The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy.
Bill didn’t just get the book, he got promotional material which rarely happened at our level. Every bookstore had a cardboard display for up front.
It was gonna be huge. High concept, good cover, hot new writer, film rights sold and movie already in the works. IIRC it was an everyman lawyer who got involved in high crimes? With false identities? and murder of unwanted spouses? And he was an amateur photographer?
I read the book. It was good.
Major flop. Crickets. The publisher lost buckets.
c4c